LUCKNOW, May 3 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has expressed displeasure over what it termed a growing tendency of banks to arbitrarily freeze accounts, observing that a bank acts as a trustee, not an investigative agency.

A division bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary on April 29 imposed a cost of Rs.50,000 on Indian Overseas Bank, Alambagh branch, Lucknow, for freezing a customer's account without valid justification, directing that the amount be paid to the account holder within four weeks.

The order came while allowing a petition filed by M/s SA Enterprises, a company which deals in fishery machinery. The petitioner had challenged the action for freezing his bank account.

In its ple...